291 
1B21.] Raising Water _ Tanning with Larch Bark. 
rence of the expence, the water from 
these springs must be more wholesome 
than that supplied from sluggish streams, 
exposed to receive all the filth which 
carelessness or malice may throw into 
them. S. S. 
Bruce Grove, Tottenham. 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
silt, 
^BTHE same fatal adherence to old me* 
B thods, which lias retarded some ot 
the most useful modern improvements, 
especially in those invaluably useful 
branches of gardening and farming, 
seems to have operated with full force 
against the introduction of a most ex¬ 
cellent species of bark, for the purposes 
of tanning. I mean that which may 
be derived in amazing quantities from 
the Larch Tree 
That the said species of bark possesses 
those genuineastringentqualities which 
are necessary for the purpose of convert¬ 
ing the raw material into leather, and 
that of the most excellent quality like¬ 
wise, 1 ascertained when I resided in 
Newcastle-upon-Tyne. My friend, 
Mr. Richard Ernbleton, made an experi¬ 
ment as to its actual strength upon 
some hides and skins of different qua¬ 
lities and weights. At the ensuing 
August Leather Fair, in that town, he 
produced an exhibition of his novel ex¬ 
periment befme a considerable number 
of country master tanners there assem¬ 
bled ; and the result of the closest 
scrutiny on their part, was, that u better 
leather than Mr. E. then produced, was 
never tanned The passing the above 
favourable judgment, proved a complete 
refutation to the avowal repeatedly 
made on previous occasions by Mr. Ro¬ 
bert Hall, of Morpeth, who, although 
allowed to be an excellent tanner, 
openly declared that he was convinced 
there was no tanning particle whatever 
in Larch Bark. What an assertion! 
what a prejudice! Another respectable 
tanner of Newcastle, Mr. Beaumont, 
likewise asserted that Larch Bark might 
perhaps answer for light calf, deer, or 
sheep skins, but that in its strength, it 
did not possess sufficient innate virtue 
to tan a stout hide, or even one of mid¬ 
dling weight, whereas, some of those 
hides which Mr. Ernbleton produced at 
the period I allude to, were of that kind 
which are denominated backs, and se¬ 
veral (a hide divided in two) weighed 
upwards of sixty pounds each pair; 
now, as respects the wearing properties 
of leather so tanned, Mr. John Sillick, 
b n, nephew to Mrs. Sillick, the prin¬ 
cipal currier of the town, informed me 
that the craft (shoemakers) spoke in 
the most favourable terms ot the kind¬ 
ness of this leather, in working, a sure 
sign of its goodness; and Mr. Ernbleton, 
to" carry the demonstrative effect of 
leather, tanned with the Larch Bark, to 
the greatest practicable evidence, had on 
one of liis boots a sole of V a Ionia tan¬ 
nage, and one on the oilier ot Larch 
Bark tannage, and he frequently after¬ 
wards declared that the latter imbibed 
less moisture, and made a better resist¬ 
ance in the wear, than the tanners’ fa¬ 
vourite, the Valonia tannage did: needs 
there Dutch or German bark .to be im¬ 
ported after this successful trial on the 
part of Mr. E. En ort Smith. 
* To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
N reading your paper of a skull 
being found in the middle of a 
tree, as related in your Magazine for 
April, 1821, 1 was put into some dif¬ 
ficulty to account for so extraordinary 
an occurrence, until memory brought to 
my recollection acircumstance that took 
place in my practice more than twenty 
years ago ; if you think it will serve to 
throw any light on the subject, it is at 
your service to publish it. 
A woman brought a child to me, to 
inquire if a swelling it had in the Scro¬ 
tum was Hernia. I gave it as my opinion, 
it was so, she thanked meybut said she 
knew how to cure it. 1 asked what she 
purposed doing to relieve .the sufferer. 
Her reply was, to draw it through a 
maiden ash, which was to be effected 
by splitting a young tree in two, and 
making the child to pass through its 
separated sides, and if the sides after 
united, the child was cured ; if not, it 
was to be drawn through a second, and 
a third time was certainty of relief. 
Had it been a girl, it must have been 
passed through a male ash. T made no 
further inquiry, but think it likely that 
some such experiment bad been made 
with the tree on Pinley Abbey Farm, 
and there a skull of a deer was used as 
a wedge, to keep the sides of the tree 
asunder, which they neglected to re¬ 
move, after passing the patient through 
between its separated sides, but which 
surviving the violence, poured out its 
cementing fluid, and continued to live 
and grow with this extraneous substance 
within its body, to the size described by 
the gentleman who has made the valu¬ 
able communication. 
T. Tooke, Surgeon. 
Chatham- Oct. 11, 1821. For 
